Edwards Out-Duels Johnson in Atlanta

Carl Edwards climbed out of his car, balanced himself on the window ledge, gave a quick glance over his shoulder to make sure all was clear, then launched into the air backward.

Get used to the acrobatics.

NASCAR has a new star.

Edwards pulled off a daring move on Jimmie Johnson coming off the final turn yesterday, narrowly won a side-by-side sprint to the finish line, then celebrated his first Nextel Cup victory with a back-flip in front of the main grandstand at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

"I almost didn't make it," said Edwards, who had to put down his hands to brace his landing. "I was a little tired from all the excitement."

While he may have cost himself some style points, Edwards earned the respect of car owner Jack Roush by out-dueling one of NASCAR's top drivers on a back tire that was nearly shredded.

"He's got two inches of rubber missing," Roush said. "He's got no tire left at all. He did it strictly on guts and determination. I couldn't be more proud of Carl."

Johnson, trying to win for the second week in a row, grabbed the lead from Edwards with 25 laps to go and appeared to be strong enough to take it all the way to the finish of the Golden Corral 500.

But, on the final lap, Edwards got a great run coming out of Turn 2 and pulled up on Johnson's back bumper. Johnson went high coming through Turn 3 and Turn 4, trying to block his challenger, but Edwards went even higher.

The 25-year-old driver hardly resembled someone in his first full year on the circuit, hugging the wall and actually tapping Johnson's car as they roared through the tri-oval.

Johnson's car shimmied slightly just a few feet from the finish, and Edwards slipped by on the outside to win by a minuscule 0.028 of a second -- about half a car length.

"Let me tell you, Jimmie Johnson is an amazing competitor," Edwards said. "That's the hardest I've ever driven in my life. I'm pretty proud of that."

Edwards completed a weekend sweep in Atlanta. On Saturday, he held off Johnson and Tony Stewart to win the Busch race -- his first victory in that series, as well.

"You can see his intensity, his car control," Johnson said. "This guy is our next superstar."

Greg Biffle held on for third in the Golden Corral, followed by Mark Martin and Kasey Kahne.

• FORMULA ONE: Fernando Alonso won the Malaysian Grand Prix in 1 hour 31 minutes 33.736 seconds to give Renault its second straight victory. He was 24.3 seconds ahead of Jarno Trulli, who powered Toyota to its first top-three finish in Formula One. Nick Heidfeld of Williams-BMW was third.

Michael Schumacher, who completed a fifth straight drivers' championship last year by winning 13 of 18 races, was seventh. Still, that's two points in the standings and an improvement from the season opener in Australia, where Schumacher stopped after colliding with Heidfeld.

Alonso said Renault needs to capitalize while Ferrari is running a modified version of its 2004 cars. Ferrari's F2005 is being tested and might be introduced for the next event in Bahrain on April 3 before the 19-race series heads to Europe.

"In these days that Ferrari is not so strong, we need to be in the first position and take the points," Alonso said.

Alonso improved two places from Melbourne, giving Renault 26 points in the constructors' championship. The 23-year-old driver is the first Spaniard to lead the F1 drivers' standings.

"It's a fantastic feeling," said Alonso, who has 16 points from a win and a third place. His only previous victory was the Hungarian Grand Prix last year when he became the youngest winner in F1.